Salford Quays Projects

[ManchesterISwonderful]

I kinda like it.

[SleepyOne]

Cotton - To be fair you've not done any rambling. Merely said that you don't like it... 4 times now.

[SleepyOne]

I didnt do all that typing just for my posts to be swamped by some vomiting emocions so I hope I'll be forgiven for reposting #96 and #97.









I really like these - or at least the potential they promise. A lot will depend on the quality of the cladding and detailing though but I find the retro futuristic aesthetics quite exciting. A few facts and figures about the new development.

600 apartments comprising (1-2 bed, 52,500 sq m)

2 x 22 storey towers, 2 x 28 storey towers

8 retail units (quite a sizeable 2,400 sq m)

800 car parking spaces

cladding - reder, zinc and brickwork

Here are a few images.








The two sets of towers sit on two podiums split by an access road which also nicely aligns with the detroit bridge thereby making a clear and legible route from the Lowry side of the dock over the water and out into Salford.


The plans also indicate some welcome and much needed active street frontages with the retail fronting the tramline and roadway.

But it is the shape and massing I find fascinating. If they get it right, these buildings could be the most thrilling resi's yet built at the quays.

Given its such as massive development I was going to post the desing statement in full given its importance and potential impact but I couldn't get the resolution right such that it was legible. Can anyone else try? Here are a few interesting excepts none the less.

"Our buildings respond to the opportunities and potential offered by the surrounding environment. Given the prominent location of the buildings no sides of the structure can be truly considered to be 'the back of the building'. Through carefully considered design, they aim to complement the environment from any of the distinct and important viewpoints from which they will be seen. Thus creating a development with frontages towards both the Quays and Salford."

- This in itself is a departure for a resi tower at the Quays as all so far built have been, to greater or lesser degrees, 'two dimensional' in their facade treatments. Indeed the design statement goes on to say.....

"Located to the South of the site are the NV buildings. These three eighteen storey residential towers are in turn located on the waterfront. The three buildigns face onto the water, though are slightly angled westward. The rear of the buildings present an unflattering elevation with inappropriate views from Salford."

- something which has been a gripe of many a SSC forummer! More from the design statement......

"While the materials used will be of the highest quality, the massing and ground level treatment will also help create buildings with an elegance in their independent stature. An exciting mix of small retail and lesiure units at ground floor, together with a high quality landscaped public space will create a lively meeting place and an integral part of the quays."

- some window dressing there but let us hope that the developer keeps to the promise of "materials.. of the highest quality". Public space and ground level ameneties are something which are completely absent from the NV buildings, so this again is something of an improvement in what is being offered by this development.



Plenty more to read - the document is well worth downloading so you can make your own mind up but amongst the hyperbole is a really promising development. My only problem with the first two renders I posted above are they they show none of the detail of the windows and balconies puncturing an apparently smooth white facade. Much of the success of the building's aesthetics will depend on how these elements are incorporated into the facade to leave the impression of a neat, slick and imposing structure

[ManchesterISwonderful]

I reckon a two bed in that development will go for a grand a week. Most of them do in the Quays. The ones in town centre have hit the roof. A normal two bedroom pad costs £1,200 a week to rent. I've seen a few for £1,500 as well. Citygate's cheaper though.

[highriser]

MIW,, i think you meant £1.200 and month

Im not a big lover of these Harbour City tower's either, but like Sleepy say's , it all depend's on the material's they use, they will bring more people to the Quay's and i like that they have retail on the ground floors.

Is the Erie Basin site next to the NV's in front of the Harbour City tower's

[Accura4Matalan]

I dont know why people are so unhappy about this proposal. Considering where the site is, I would have expected something of worse quality.

[ManchesterISwonderful]

Originally Posted by highriser

MIW,, i think you meant £1.200 and month

Shite. Yes I did.

Imagine paying £1,200 a week!

[WeasteDevil]

It's a Fairhursts designed thing this isn't it?

Well, I'm happy then! They don't churn out shite.

Interesting thing is however, that they produce wonderful and huge detailed renders for the Quay Point scheme, that will certainly not end up looking quite like that, and could end up totally different, yet this proposal which now has full planning permission, has no detailed or reasonably detailed renders at all??????

We even have more detailed renders for their proposed design for the Pomona site.

[WeasteDevil]

Originally Posted by highriser

Is the Erie Basin site next to the NV's in front of the Harbour City tower's

No, Erie Basin is inbetween the Anchorage Office thingy and the Victoria Building. It is on the far right of the picture of the model you have posted, although, god knows what that thing is on the model where Erie Basin is supposed to go.

EDIT: There is a small building to the right of Victoria, but it isn't the one on the model. At least I don't think so, it's not that big from my memory.

Next to the NVs (between them and Victoria) is currently a ground carpark. Maybe they will landscape it and turn it into a little square? That would be nice.

[SleepyOne]

It's a Fairhursts designed thing this isn't it?

Well, I'm happy then! They don't churn out shite.

Interesting thing is however, that they produce wonderful and huge detailed renders for the Quay Point scheme, that will certainly not end up looking quite like that, and could end up totally different, yet this proposal which now has full planning permission, has no detailed or reasonably detailed renders at all??????

We even have more detailed renders for their proposed design for the Pomona site.

Indeed it is Fairhursts. Did anyone go to the exhibition on at Urbis at the tail end of last year?

Fairhursts, a hundred years in Manchester 6 – 18 December
FREE

Follow the evolution of one of the longest established design practices in the country and its influence-both upon and from-the design world at large, in this centenary exhibition.

Im kicking myself as I forgot to go.

Anyway, the lack of detailed renders other than those posted above is, it has to be said, a cause for concern.

[WeasteDevil]

They probably are detailed Sleepy, just not on the web. I'm guessing that they were grabbed of the PDF on the website of Salford City Council's planning applications, and they simply scan them at low quality into PDFs. If you went and looked at the planning app, they would be in much greater detail.

[caw123]

I had a look at the Fairhursts exhibition Sleepy. The Quay Point render was slapped all over the place but I don't recall seeing anything on Harbour City.

Originally Posted by cottonopolis

Two words: Massing render.

I really like these towers, they're a bit different, they relate well.

[Farsight]

I don't like the roofs or the way the verticals are kind of fighting the angles. IMHO it looks haphazard, with random lines that are different for the sake of being different. And definitely not beautiful. This could turn out very badly indeed, with people saying what were they thinking?! There's definite potential for blot on the landscape here. They look so like the sort of buildings people in the sixties thought we'd have in the 21st Century. As I've said previously, they remind of...



StingRay, StingRay, da da da dah!



Aw, it was a puppet show.

http://stingray.sfdaydreams.com/

[Sir Miles Platting]

^ yeh, the future's not what it used to be....

[Legin]

I agree with Sleepyone - the cladding will make or break this development. I'm pleased these buildings are some what futuristic looking and interestingly shaped. The Salford Quays area has re-invented itself recently and mainly due to its daring architecture and unusual shaped buildings such as the The Lowry - NV Buildings - Imperial War Museum and soon to come Erie basin and Pomona Docks. We should not dilute this concept but add to it - which I this development will - and in doing so increase the appeal of Salford Quays. I always see parallels with what’s going on in Salford Quays with the Guggenheim Museum and how vastly it’s managed to raise the profile of Bilbao.

[dgnr8]

I remember the planning app mentioned Zinc panels and brickwork, maybe wood too, my memory's hazy. I don't have that much hope for this, it'll probably just manage to be pleasent.

[Farsight]

I think the best bit will be when the sirens go off and the whole complex lowers itself into the ground out of harm's way. Anything can happen in the next half hour.

StingRay, StingRay, da da da dah!

http://www.salute.co.uk/salutegames/...ew_gallery.htm

[9462]

are they fucking mad? There not building anymore roads? The traffic is hurrendus when united play, and at rush hour.

[frozenmusic]

Yeah, the Harbour city renders were in the fairhurst exhibition at Urbis (I work there), nothing we have not seen though.

[WeasteDevil]

Originally Posted by 9462

are they fucking mad? There not building anymore roads? The traffic is hurrendus when united play, and at rush hour.

Where the hell do you want them to put another road?